One A Day
by mlr236
Summary: Sakura meets a new boy at her school, named Gaara. She helps him cope with his problems: failing grades, an abusive father, and a bad smoking habit. GaaSaku!
1. Chapter 1: Accidental Meeting

**Chapter 1: Accidental Meeting**

Sakura tapped her fingers impatiently on the wooden surface of the desk she was sitting at. The teacher was mentioning something about Finals which were in the next week, but all she could think about was the bell ringing.

_Come on, come on…only three more minutes of this boring hell…_

"Oh, and another thing, if you fail Finals you will **not **be graduating…".Sakura tuned out the teacher's voice again as the bell rang.

"Make sure you study!" he called as his students made a break for the door. Sakura stuffed her textbooks into her book bag as fast as she could so she could meet Hinata outside the classroom.

"Ano…Shikamaru?"

A boy with spiky brown hair pulled up into a ponytail lay face down on his desk, sleeping. Sakura tapped him on the head.

"Don't waste your time." Said a voice behind her. She turned around. A black haired boy stood next to a boy with blonde hair and big, blue eyes.

"Hey Sasuke…and Naruto." She said, and shrugged at Shikamaru.

"Don't worry 'bout him Sakura-chan, the janitor will make sure he leaves before they close the school tonight." Said Naruto, grinning.

"Sakura, are you ready?" said a voice timidly from the door way. It was Hinata. Sakura walked to the door with them and the two girls parted with the two boys outside in the crowded hallway.

"Are you going to study?" asked Hinata. Sakura sighed.

"Oh, probably not." She replied. Hinata raised an eyebrow.

"So I guess being stuck in your senior year isn't _that _bad then…"

Sakura grimaced.

"I think I'll study."

It was 4:30. Hinata had left with her cousin, Neji, and his girlfriend. Sakura was now alone in the corridors of the school. She hated being alone, since she was always alone at home. Sakura had to stop by Room 302 for a detention and was on her way to the front desk to hand in her completion slip.

As she was nearing, she noticed that a rather tall boy with bright red hair was leaning on the counter. He had a pale complexion. He was wearing all black and there was an obvious assortment of chains attached to his pants. Sakura sat down on a lobby chair and waited for him to leave.

"…Turn this in tomorrow morning in order for the transfer request to be validated."

Sakura heard him reply, but she wasn't paying attention to what he said. She was noticing how nice his voice sounded.

"Alright?" she heard the lady say.

"Hn."

Sakura watched in interest when he turned around. His features were striking, but uniquely attractive. He had aquamarine colored eyes. Sakura could tell he had insomnia, or _something_, because he had dark circles under and around his eyes. He also had no eyebrows, which Sakura thought was weird, but it had no effect on the rest of his face, he still looked fine.

"What are you staring at?"

Sakura blinked. The red-haired boy was standing a little ways away from her. He stared at her for a second while she stared back until she found her voice.

"Oh, s-sorry, I spaced out…" she said and tried her hardest not to stutter, but it happened anyways. She always stuttered when she was embarrassed. He grunted in annoyance and walked away.

Sakura gazed after him as he walked out front doors.

_He's really cute…_

The next morning, Sakura ran into him again. He was at the front desk again, trying to hand the lady a crumpled piece of paper. Sakura stood by the water fountain and stared at him when he walked past her. He glanced at her, but kept walking.

"Sakura!"

Sakura turned her head away from the boy's retreating figure. She could still hear the chains clinking together on his pants. Hinata pranced towards her.

"Ohayo Hinata."

"Do you know that boy?" inquired Hinata.

"Um…I don't think so, no…" said Sakura, scratching her head.

"Hmm…he must be transferring here or something, because he was walking around in the halls the other day."

"Do you think so? Really?"

Sakura immediately regretted saying that with so much enthusiasm because Hinata smiled.

"You like him, don't you?"

"Pfft, whatever made you think that?" Sakura said, but her blush gave her thoughts away. Hinata smiled but kept quiet.


	2. Chapter 2: He Lives In a Broken Home

**Chapter 2: He Lives in a Broken Home**

Sakura set her school bag down on the doorstep and reached into the front pocket with one hand for her keys. In her other hand was a teetering pile of books. The lock clicked and Sakura pushed the white door open. She grabbed her school bag and dropped it by her shoes. She took the books upstairs to her room and set them on her flowery bedspread.

"Mom'll be home soon…" she mumbled, going downstairs to wash the dishes.

* * *

A teenage boy with fiery red hair ran across the 4-lane street, dodging oncoming cars. He spotted a quarter on the ground and stopped to pick it up. A car rolled up behind him and honked it's horn. The boy rebelliously flipped the driver off and sprinted towards the curb.

He was currently on his way home and it was getting darker out. If he was lucky, he'd reach home before a cop pulled over to question him like the night before.

The boy reached the neighborhood in which he lived and slowed to a stroll. He shoved his hands into his pockets and shuffled past the grimy old apartments and flats. These were the city slums.

The door to the old, beat up shack that was his house stood open, like always. He walked into the living room. A man sat on the lopsided couch, drinking from a beer bottle.

"Hi dad."

"Fuck off."

The boy turned walked past him, and said nothing. He was used to this. On his way to his room, another boy with brown hair shoved him out of the way and kept walking down the hallway.

"Watch it, Gaara." He growled. Gaara ignored him and went into his room. He shut the door behind him and set his knife and keys onto the stereo that served as his nightstand. His room consisted of a mattress, a dresser, and his stereo. He sighed and turned off the lights to go to sleep. But sleep never came. For one thing, he could hear Kankuro, his brother argueing with his sister, Temari. A man's voice interjected between them and heard Temari cry out. Gaara knew his father had hit her. There was a female sob and male laughter.

* * *

Sakura woke up early. She showered, brushed her teeth, got dressed, and went downstairs. Her mother had come and gone, but left her a note. 

_Sakura, _

_I'd like you to do the grocery shopping. I won't be home today until around eight. The list is on the fridge. _

_Love,_

_Mom_

The love part looked like it had been hastily added. Sakura sighed and took a look at the list underneath it. It was long. She stuffed it in her pocket and decided to go afterschool. Sakura looked at the clock on the wall in her dining room. It was 7:03. Sakura squealed and ran to the door. She slipped her shoes on, grabbed her bag, and ran outside, slamming the door behind her. School started in twelve minutes and it took her twenty to get there.

* * *

Gaara woke up by seven o' clock. Thankfully, his siblings were still asleep and so was his father. He took a short shower, dressed, and tried to do what he could with his permanently messy red hair. He strode out the door. Gaara had no idea when school started, but he figured he'd get there either way. On the way, he picked up a pack of cigarettes that some bum down his street was selling and lit one. 

The bell rang as soon as Gaara walked into the parking lot. He crushed the cigarette under one beat up converse shoe and pulled out his schedule from his pocket. As he walked into the double doors, he looked down at it.

_English Ms.Shizune B25_

Gaara didn't know where B25 was.

"Shit…"

To his left was A01 and to his right was B01. He turned right and walked down the hall until he found B25 and opened the door.

"We should have a new student arriving today-Ah! There he is!" said the teacher, whom Gaara assumed was Shizune.

"Class, this is…" she said, leaving a blank in her sentence for him to introduce himself.

"Gaara."

"Okay then, Gaara, why don't you have a seat by Uzumaki back there." She said cheerfully.

Gaara shrugged and sat down at a table in the back, where a boy with blond hair was waving ecstatically.

"Hi! I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" he said loudly. There was a wave of muffled laughter.

Gaara ignored him and sat down. Naruto frowned and turned to face the board.

"Today, we're going to start on a new project…"

Gaara crossed his arms. This was going to be a very long first day…

* * *

Meanwhile, Sakura was having trouble of her own. She had gotten to school late and was assigned another tardy detention. She almost fell asleep in class and Hinata had to wake her up. By lunch break, Sakura was thoroughly exhausted. 

"Sakura, did you get any sleep last night?" asked Hinata opening a bento box at their lunch table.

Sakura nodded and decided to walk around the campus field. Maybe that would wake her up.

The sky was turning a clear porcelain blue. Sakura stretched her arms and began to walk. The weather was actually very nice, considering it was an autumn morning.

"Hey!"

Sakura turned around. That boy with the brick red hair was catching up to her.

"Oh, what?" she asked, surprised to see him.

"Do you know where this class is?" he asked, panting and handing her a slip of paper. He pointed to _Art Iruka F09_.

"Yeah, that's my next class," she replied, "I could take you there."

"Thanks."

Sakura began to walk back, but the boy was doing something that caught her eye. He had lit a cigarette and was now pressing it to his mouth.

"You can't smoke on campus." She called. The boy only looked at her and blew smoke out of the corner of his mouth.

"So." He called back, taking another drag.

"So? Didn't you know that second hand smoking kills?"

"Anyone's gonna die, it'll be me."

Sakura frowned and an idea came to her.

"If you don't put that out, I won't take you too our class."

The boy was raising the cigarette to his lips again when he heard her. He looked at her with a mixture of annoyance and defeat. So he dropped it on the ground and stepped on it.

"Happy?"

Sakura smiled and nodded, satisfied.

"By the way, what's your name?" she asked.

"Gaara."

"Gaara eh? Just Gaara?"

"Mmhmm"

Sakura raised one eyebrow. He mimicked her, but seeing as he didn't have eyebrows, Sakura couldn't tell.

"And you?" he demanded.

"I'm Haruno Sakura." She said.

Gaara nodded. The bell sounded. Sakura began walking back. Still annoyed that this girl had gotten him to drop his cigarette, he followed her like an angry dog.

Art turned out to be pretty interesting for Sakura. She and Gaara ended up sitting together to work on a project.

"I think it would look nice if we added this!" said Sakura cheerfully, holding up a pink pencil.

Gaara shook his head.

"No art of mine is going to contain pink."

Sakura gave him a hurt look and looked down, twirling a strand of her pink hair. Gaara, who had just realized that her hair was pink, rolled his eyes.

"I didn't mean your hair."

Sakura giggled and smiled.

_And what the hell was that? She must have a split personality…_, he thought.

Sakura rummaged through their box of pencils. The project was to make a collaborative drawing involving both person's ideas.

"How 'bout this color?"

Sakura's voice broke into Gaara's thoughts. She was holding up a pencil that was as red as his hair.

"Fine."

Sakura smiled and began drawing. Gaara picked up a lead pencil and began sketching.

"Hey Sakura, I have an idea." He said.

Sakura looked up. She had been humming and busily drawing a fat rose in the middle of their paper.

"How about that side is yours and this side is mine." Said Gaara, portioning out the paper with his hands. Sakura nodded.

"Mmkay." She said happily and went back to drawing.

Pleased that she had agreed with his idea, Gaara began sketching again.


	3. Chapter 3: An Interesting Shopping Trip

**Aah I don't own the characters.**

**Chapter 3: An Interesting Shopping Trip**

The bell rang before long, signaling the five minute rush before the last class of the day.

"Gaara, what's your last class?" asked Sakura.

"Hmm…" he took his schedule out. _Mathematics Hatake K. D13_

"Math."

Sakura nodded.

"Me too."

Gaara stuffed the schedule back into his pocket and followed Sakura out of the room.

"Heeey!"

Sakura looked up. It was a girl with brown hair tied up in two buns, dragging Hinata along behind her.

"Hey Tenten."

Tenten smiled and nodded up at Gaara, who wasn't paying attention.

"Who's your friend?" she asked slyly.

Sakura turned to Gaara, who was busy looking at the hallway behind them.

"Oh, this is Gaara…" she chirped, elbowing him in the side. He grunted and turned his head to face them.

"Gaara, this is Hinata and Tenten."

"Hi." He said. His voice was monotonous, but Tenten disregarded it and waved cheerfully. Hinata giggled. He _was _good-looking.

"Nice to meet you." She said shyly. The bell rang again.

"Woops! We gotta go. Ja mata ne!" said Tenten, she unlinked her arm with Hinata's and ran down the hallway to her classroom. Gaara and Sakura left and found Room D13.

* * *

As always, the room was alive with voices and laughter, even after the bell rang. Mr. Hatake, or as his students casually called him Kakashi-sensei, was always at least ten minutes late, so it was fine to talk until then.

Gaara followed Sakura to the back of the room, where Sakura sat next to Shikamaru, and Gaara sat next to a solemn black-haired boy, whose name happened to be Sasuke.

"Hey you're in my first period class!" yelled a boy to Gaara's left. He turned to come face to face with the blond boy, Naruto he had met earlier.

"Remember meeee?" he asked excitedly.

"Yeah."

"Oh my gosh, really?"

"Yes." Grumbled Gaara. Naruto jumped up in down in his seat.

_This kid is fucking crazy!_, thought Gaara. The room suddenly went silent when a man with gray hair and a mask covering his mouth entered the room. His lazy eyes instantly flitted towards an unusual looking red head sitting in the back.

_This must be the teacher…_

"Ah, our new student." He said, raising a hand in gesture of 'Hello'. He turned to the board and began writing down a few warm up problems.

"Ne, Sakura-chan."

Sakura turned around in her seat. It was Naruto.

"What's the answer to number two?"

Sakura frowned and shook her head.

"I'm not telling you, you ask me for the answers every day!"

Naruto's eyes got big and sad. Sakura just shook her head again and went back to work.

"Hey Gaara!"

"What?"

"Do you know the answer to this?"

"No."

Gaara honestly did not know the answer to any of the questions on the board. He wasn't good at math.

"Hey Sasuke, do-

"No."

"Aw, come on!"

"No."

Sakura raised her hand. Kakashi, who was reading what looked like a porno novel looked up and called on her.

"The answer is two to the third power."

"That's correct."

Gaara jumped in his seat when a loud snore echoed through the classroom from next to Sakura. Everyone turned around in their chairs to see who was sleeping.

"Nara!" said Kakashi. Of course it was Shikamaru. He fidgeted, but didn't wake up.

"Nara Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru yawned and raised his head.

"Huh?"  
The class laughed.

* * *

"Just a reminder! Winter Finals are in two weeks!" called Kakashi. The school bell followed as soon as he finished talking.

"Are you going to take the Finals here?" asked Sakura as she packed her bag. Gaara wasn't exactly sure why he was waiting for her, in fact he was becoming impatient that she was taking so long. But then again, he had nowhere better to be.

"Hn. I guess." He replied flatly.

"Will you study?" she inquired.

"I guess I'd have to." He said, knowing full well that he did _not _want to be held back. As soon as he graduated, he was going to leave the hell hole that was his home and move somewhere else.

"I can help you, I-I mean if you want help."

Gaara cocked his head to the side.

"Really?" he asked. Sakura looked down at her feet.

"Yeah…"

"We'd better not work at my house." He said cautiously.

"Why? What's wrong with your house?"

"It's…messy."

"Oh. Well why don't you come shopping with me after school and we'll go to my house afterwards." Said Sakura. She gave him a small smile. Gaara narrowed his eyes.

"Shopping?"

"Shopping for food."

"Oh. Fine." He said, relieved that she wasn't going to drag him into a girl's clothing shop.

* * *

Sakura was thinking the whole time that she and Gaara walked to the grocery store. She wasn't yet comfortable with this boy. He seemed sort of troubled.

_I should be careful, I've only just met this guy…but doesn't look like he'd hurt me_, she thought, admiring his side profile. Gaara turned his head sharply.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing!" she mumbled, and turned away. She felt her face turn red. _Oh my gosh._

"Whatever." He said, and reached into his pocket for a cigarette and his lighter. Sakura was busying herself with her hair, and heard the click of his lighter. She glared at Gaara as he sighed out a cloud of smoke.

"Why do you even smoke?" she asked loudly. Gaara looked at her from the corner of his darkly lined eyes as he put the cigarette to his lips again.

"Relaxing."

Sakura scowled at him.

"Don't." she said blankly.

Gaara rolled his eyes at her.

"I'm serious, Gaara…"

Gaara ignored her. Sakura sighed and decided to drop the subject. Besides, they were at the store already. Gaara threw the cigarette on the ground and followed the pink-haired girl into the automatic doors.

* * *

"Alright…I need apples…toothpaste…"

Sakura was going off her list in the middle of Aisle 5. Gaara reached up and grabbed a box of toothpaste of the shelf and chucked it into her cart.

"Oh thanks!" said Sakura happily. Gaara shoved his hands into his pockets again and trailed her farther down the aisle. An older couple glanced unsurely at the arrangement of chains on his pants. He gave them a 'What the hell do you want?' look and they turned away immediately. He always got that in public, but his pink-haired companion seemed not to mind at all. That's what was different about her. He bumped into Sakura as she stopped the cart again to pull out her list.

"Mkay..lessee here…"

Gaara let out a frustrated sigh and suddenly an idea came to him. Maybe if he helped her, this would all go faster. And he needed a cigarette badly.

"What else do you need?" he said abruptly.

"Ano…apples…. band-aids…" The list went on and on.

"Here, just give this to me and I'll get it." Said Gaara. Sakura stared at him.

"But-

"Just give it to me."

"Okay, but just make sure to get the panda band-aids! And don't you dare buy cigarettes!" she yelled after him as he raced down the aisle with the list in hand.

"I won't." he muttered to himself, pushing the cart around the corner. Sakura began humming and made her way back outside.

* * *

Gaara scanned the list and frowned. He'd found everything except…

"No."

Tampons. Of course, the last thing on the list was tampons. Gaara cursed under his breath.

"I can't go down there!"

Five minutes passed by before he pushed the cart forward a couple inches. A female store clerk passed by him.

"Excuse me!"

The woman turned around.

"Can I help you?"

"Um. Well you see…my…my girlfriend, she's sick and she gave me a grocery list…" he trailed off.

"Yes?"

"And she wanted me to buy, um, t-tampons." He said.

"Buy what?"

"Tampons."

The lady laughed.

"Okay, why don't you wait here and I'll get them for you."

Gaara sighed in relief, stood up straight, and regained his steely composure.

* * *

"What took you so long?" asked Sakura as soon as the red head appeared outside the doors. He stopped the cart in front of her and reached into one of the plastic bags. Sakura watched him as he pulled out a pack of Camel cigarettes.

"I told you not to buy those!"

"I think I deserved it for having to get your girl stuff." He said curtly and stuck a cigarette in his mouth.

"Girl stuff? What do you mean?"

Gaara lit the cigarette and picked up two of the bags of groceried and let Sakura manage the other two.

"Your tampons or whatever."

Sakura gasped and blushed.

"I'm sorry! I forgot t-those were on the list.."

Gaara exhaled.

"Well thanks anyways for doing the shopping."

"Hn."

* * *

**Hehehehe :D ****Poor Gaara. **

**I honestly couldn't picture him with a shopping cart.**


	4. Chapter 4: False Accusations

**Sorry, I know it's been months since I last updated this, but I've been really busy. I hope you had a nice Halloween and Thanksgiving and any other holiday while I was gone. Here's chapter four!**

* * *

Too Gaara and Sakura's surprise, it had begun to rain on their way to Sakura's house. They reached the stark-white door an hour and a half after their strange shopping excursion and Gaara was already a fourth of the way through his new pack of cigarettes.

"How can you smoke that much?" inquired Sakura as she fumbled around in her school bag for her house keys.

Gaara replied to this with a shrug. Sakura unlocked the front door and marched directly into her kitchen. Gaara followed her in, seemingly relaxed about being in a girl's house. He set his share of the groceries on the kitchen counter.

"T-Thanks." Said Sakura.

Gaara nodded.

"Okay…why don't you just have a seat in the living room? I'm going to go and get my math books."

Sakura directed her guest to the living room and then set off down the hall for her bedroom. Even though she was already in her senior year of high school, this was the first boy that she'd ever had in her home.

_In my house, ALONE, _she thought, feeling nervous.

* * *

There were three couches in Sakura's living room, all spotless white and neatly arranged to fit the rest of the room's décor. Of course, Gaara hadn't really given any thought to this as he sat down on the largest couch and tapped his foot impatiently. Kankuro would be calling sometime soon and Gaara wasn't exactly in the mood for being cursed out over the phone in front of this girl. 

With a jolt, he realized that the last female house he'd been in was a whore house. Kankuro and Temari had taken him to see their mother.

"Oookay!"

Sakura arrived cheerfully in the living room, interrupting Gaara's thoughts. She set a pile of math books on the glass-top coffee table in front of him.

"I got these from the school when I was tutoring there." She said, and plopped down on the carpet across the table from Gaara.

He eyed the text books with a look that suggested he'd never studied in his life. So she was once a tutor. That explained her willingness to help him study.

Sakura jumped when Gaara's cell rang.

"Hello?"

"_Where the hell are you? I'll beat the shit out of you if you don't get your ass back home NOW!"_

The line went silent. Gaara mumbled something incoherent and stuffed the phone back into his pocket. Sakura had heard every word Kankuro had said, her eyes wide.

"I have to go."

Sakura watched the boy's face for a moment before giving him a small, sad smile.

"Okay. You're welcome over here tomorrow."

He nodded and stood up. Sakura saw him to the door in silence. He was about to leave when she remembered something.

"Oh! Wait!"

Sakura ran back into her kitchen, snatched up one of the bags, and sprinted back to the door.

"Here!" she said, and handed him the cheerful little tin of panda band-aids. He gave her a skeptical look, but pocketed them.

"Thanks."

Gaara stepped off her porch and trudged across the lawn without hesitation. It was still raining. Sakura watched him light another cigarette.

* * *

"Where the _hell _were you?!" shouted Gaara's father as soon as his youngest son walked through the door. 

Gaara ignored him and slipped down the hall to his room and slammed the door shut. He opened the window and set his possessions on the stereo before lying down on the mattress. Gaara thought for a long time. He would need a backpack. He needed binder paper and pencils. He needed a job, but he didn't have the grades. He needed to get out of the house. He needed a cigarette, bad, and he didn't have any more. Eventually, Gaara's thoughts steered towards Sakura. He picked up the tin of bandages from his stereo and turned it around in his hand. They didn't fit well in the room. The rain outside his window threatened to come in with the wind.

"GAARA!"

Gaara hesitantly got up off the mattress and left the room.

* * *

Sakura lay in bed, thinking about the phone call. It made her sad to think that Gaara was treated in this manner. She wondered about his home life. She had wanted to ask him what he meant when he had said his house was 'messy'. And now she knew. 

"Haruno Sakura!"

_Speaking of home life…_, she thought.

Sakura sat up in bed with a grimace and yawned.

"SAKURA!"

She shuffled out into the hall and made her way to the kitchen, where her mother stood, angrily tapping her fingers on the countertop.

"What are these?!"

She held up an unopened pack of cigarettes in her hand. Sakura gasped, half in surprise that her mother had found those, half in surprise that Gaara had purchased _two_ with her grocery money.

"T-they aren't mine!"

"Oh, I'm _so _sure these aren't yours."

"I'm serious, mom, they aren't mine!"

Sakura watched her mother's angry expression uneasily and waited for what she had to had to say next.

"Well then, if they aren't yours, then who's are they?" said her mother, quietly.

Sakura took a deep breath.

"I went shopping with a friend today and she smokes."

"You socialize with smokers now?!" yelled her mother, slamming the pack of Camels onto the kitchen counter.

"N-No! I-

"I don't want to hear another word."

There was a long, scrutinizing silence before her mother spoke again.

"I knew you'd go wrong without your father around." She said coldly and left the kitchen.

Sakura felt like crying, but instead, she took the pack of cigarettes and went back to her room.

* * *

**Oh noez!**


	5. Chapter 5: A Good Bit of Trouble

Sakura awoke in the bleak morning light, feeling as though she hadn't slept at all. Her eyes felt dry with the mascara that had smudged off during sleep. She yawned and stretched her arms above her head. Something had been stuck under her hip the entire night and it was now under her thigh. She reached under the blanket and pulled a dented box of cigarettes out and over the covers. And then everything that had happened the previous day came crashing down on her conscience.

"Oh no…"

Sakura sat up and looked at the clock. The pink digital numbers read 8:37 am.

"Crap! I'm late!" she yelled aloud and slid out of the bed.

She ran down the hall and into the kitchen to make breakfast. Frantically, Sakura began pouring cereal into a bowl. The phone rang out in the near silence of her house, making her jump. All possibilities of people that could be calling her raced through her head. The school principal? Her first period teacher? Her mom? Could it be….Gaara? She gasped at the very thought.

Sakura yanked the phone off the receiver and put it to her ear.

"Hello?!"

"_Sakura-chan, where are you?"_

It was Hinata. Of course. Who else would be calling besides her conscientious best friend?

"Hi Hinata, I'm running really late, I gotta go!"

"_Okay but there's that boy asking me if you're here, his name is G—_

"Sorry Hina-chan I can't talk now, see you in a bit!" Sakura said hurriedly and hung up the phone.

She left the kitchen (and her half-poured bowl of cereal) and ran back to her bedroom to change.

* * *

By the time Sakura got to class, it was nearing the end of second period. She burst into the bustling art room and practically flew to her seat. She dropped her bags next to the chair and collapsed on her desk. The rest of the students seemed not to notice, and neither did the teacher, but next to her, Sakura could feel eyes on her back.

"Where are my cigarettes?" Gaara said coldly.

"Well," said Sakura leaning back and crossing her arms, "Your _cigarettes _just so happened to be on the kitchen counter when my mother walked in from work."

Gaara continued to glare at her.

"So what?" he said.

Sakura could feel her face heating up.

"Your cigarettes got me grounded, Gaara!"

"Well, that's not my fault!"

"Yes it is! _I _wasn't the one who bought them! And by the way, that was _my _money you bought them with! You owe me 450 yen!"

Gaara pursed his lips.

"I went one whole entire 8-hour night without nicotine and I'm ready to shank the next person that walks in the door if you don't give me something to smoke." He said quietly.

Sakura's anger quickly slipped into mild fear as her desk mate drew a closed pocketknife halfway out of his pants pocket.

"O-Okay, but this is the only time I'll ever supply you with cigarettes." She said quietly, and looked around the room.

A couple of students had noticed their little tiff but had since gone back to drawing. Sakura pulled the smashed box of Camels from her school bag and slapped them down on Gaara's lap. He snickered and left the room right as the bell rang. Sakura sighed heavily and looked at their collaboration drawing. On her side was a barely visible doodle of a bed of flowers. On Gaara's side was a black patch of scribbles. It was going to take a long time before they actually _collaborated_, Sakura could tell. She picked up her bag and the paper and set the drawing down in a pile with all the others.

"Sakura-chan!" Hinata's voice rang through the classroom.

Sakura looked up and smiled weakly. Hinata met her halfway from the door and they left.

"What's going on, you've been late almost every day!"

They pushed past a large group of students outside the hall.

"Wait, Hinata, let's see what's going…on?"

Sakura's voice trailed off when she and Hinata reached the center of the group. Gaara was leaning against a set of lockers, smoking, and casually watching the school principal yell at him from a few feet away.

"Young man, you put that cigarette out right this minute or else I'll have you expelled!"

Gaara smirked and continued to puff out smoke.

"That's it, I'm calling security to have you escorted off campus!"

_Expelled?...Escorted off…campus?_, Sakura thought in almost a daze.

Not really knowing what she was doing, Sakura pushed past a couple more students and marched up to Gaara through a light haze of smoke. The principal sputtered something incoherent, but Sakura continued on until she stood directly in front of Gaara's face.

"You put that out right now or else I'll never, ever, EVER help you again on your homework." She snapped.

The students surrounding them burst out laughing. For a moment, Gaara's relaxed facial expression faltered into one of surprise. They were staring angrily at each for another minute before blew a gust of smoke at her face.

"Don't treat me like a child, _bitch_."

And in the next second, Sakura had slapped Gaara so hard that the ash on the end of his cigarette sprinkled onto the floor. He reached up in disbelief and held a hand to the reddening welt on his cheek.

"You……I can't believe you!" he hissed, letting the cigarette fall from his mouth.

Sakura gasped, realizing what she'd done. Behind them, the principal cleared his throat.

"Well, this seems to be settled. I'm ordering both of you to do 72 hours of community service for smoking on campus, disobeying my direct demand, and violence."

He crossed his arms.

"I expected you to be much more respectful as a new student, Gaara. Both of you be at my office after school, and I'll discuss the details. And keep your hands off each other."

He shook his head and turned to leave. The other students quickly dissipated, leaving Sakura and Gaara almost completely alone. Sakura glimpsed Hinata awkwardly waving goodbye to her from the crowd. The hallway became silent. Sakura looked down at her shoes. Gaara rubbed his cheek and continued to look away from her like a pouting child.

"I-I'm sorr—

"Don't say it."

"Fine! But y-you...you deserved that!"

Sakura looked up at him briefly before running down the hall, wiping tears of shame and anger from her face. She rounded the corner and disappeared. Gaara looked after her stoically and stood up from the lockers, remembering now that the last person to slap him that hard was his own mother.

"Jeez…" he said under his breath.

He picked the dead cigarette off the ground and threw it into a nearby trash can.

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**I'm so sorry that it's taken me so very long to start and finish this chapter! It's been like...a year or two, eh? So I really hope you all like this one, I promise to continue writing steadily!  
**


	6. Chapter 6: One Missed Call

The punishment was strict and straight-forward. Community service at the nearest hospital. Sakura and Gaara had to clean up around the lobbies and waiting rooms and throw out for five days…all day. It was Sakura's first suspension (a major one too) and she knew she wouldn't be able to tell her mother about it without being sent away.

"So tell me the whole story from the beginning." Tenten said, trying to look serious.

Sakura could tell she was excited to hear this bit of gossip. Well, maybe not a _bit _of gossip. Everyone had been whispering about it until Sakura had left the principal's office in a daze. She hadn't said a word to Gaara. He seemed to not notice that she was in the same room with him. When the principal questioned him on her actions, he spoke as if Haruno Sakura was just some girl he used to know.

"Well, she slapped him." Hinata said softly.

All three of them were at Tenten's house in the suburbs. It was only a few blocks away from the high school. Sakura was feeling like she wouldn't be able to face her mother when she returned home.

_If I even go home, _she thought.

Maybe Hinata would let her relax on her family's sprawling property. A hot bath, a walk in the gardens, maybe some meditation.

"Sakuraaa-chaaan…"

Tenten shook Sakura's shoulders as if she had become a brain-dead zombie.

"I'm sorry, I'm just really out of it, " She said.

"It's because she's in love," Tenten mused, and exchanged a grin with Hinata.

"I am _not_!" Sakura yelled.

Tenten and Hinata giggled.

"Gaara is way too difficult for anyone to love. His own family doesn't love him!" Sakura continued.

Hinata stopped laughing suddenly. Tenten continued to laugh until she realized no one else was.

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked.

"I mean—

Sakura's phone rang once from her school bag and then stopped. She pulled it out quickly before it could ring again but the second line of her ringtone never played. She flipped it open and saw that there was a missed call from a number that she didn't know.

"What's up?" said Tenten.

The alert for a voicemail showed up as a small cartoon person holding a phone to their ear. Sakura raised an eyebrow. It was strange that her phone had gone straight to voicemail after only one ring. Whoever it was too lazy to want to talk to her, she thought.

"Hold on you guys, someone called me."

She left the room as her friends started talking about homework and stood in the hallway. The automated voice got through telling her what time the voice mail was received and then there was a pause before someone started talking.

"_Hey, uh…this number was on a piece of paper in my locker and I figured I'd give it a call. So…if I don't get a call back soon I'm gonna assume you didn't mean this. Later."_

It was very obviously a boy. Sakura's heart sped up and she snapped the phone shut before running back into Tenten's bedroom.

"Guess what?!" she said excitedly.

The two girls exchanged glances before looking at Sakura.

"A boy called me! Should I call him back? He said if I didn't call back he would think I didn't mean it? But I don't know how he got my number!" Sakura gushed and flounced down onto the carpet.

"Well didn't he leave his name?" Hinata asked, and then cleared her throat before looking sideways at Tenten.

"No! He didn't! I bet he's really cool and stuff! What if he has a car?!" Sakura squealed and hugged her phone to her chest.

"Woah, woah, calm down!"

Sakura grinned at Tenten and began dialing her voicemail number. She flipped through two leftover voicemails from her mother and then set the phone to speaker when it got to the mystery message. Hinata scooted in closer. Sakura set the phone down on the kotatsu table. The message played itself out. Sakura watched her friend's faces in excitement but neither of their expressions brightened. In fact, Hinata's expression was becoming very serious. The voicemail ended.

"Well?" said Sakura.

Tenten glanced at Hinata.

"S-Sakura-chan, maybe it was just an accident.." Hinata said quietly.

"What do you mean 'an accident'? He said specifically that he would think I didn't mean it! If anything he probably thinks _I _did it on accident!" Sakura said confidently.

"But you didn't do it," said Tenten.

"Well then who did?"

"How should I know?"

"I don't know, _do _you know?"

"N-No."

"Yes you do."

Tenten shook her head furiously. Sakura set her hands on her hips.

"You both know something!" she said, looking from Tenten to Hinata.

"Oh, look at the time! You know I think I should get going!" blurted Hinata.

She stood up quickly and grabbed her book bag from its place near Tenten's futon. Confused, but not wanting to be rude, Sakura stood up as well.

"So, I'll see you both tomorrow then." Tenten said and walked the two girls to her front door.

"Sayonara." Hinata nodded her head quickly and was down the first flight of stairs to Tenten's apartment before Sakura could say goodbye.

"Mata ashita!" Tenten chirped and closed the door behind Sakura.

* * *

It was around 5 o'clock when Sakura finally got to her house and opened the front door. Her mother wasn't home yet, so she was able to get to her room without confrontation. She let her bag slide to the floor next to her dresser and flopped down onto her bed.

Of course, Tenten and Hinata knew something about the phone call. And the drawling, bored voice sounded vaguely familiar. She retrieved her phone and listened to the message again. Yes, it was definitely someone she knew. She sighed and dropped the phone back into her bag and rolled over on the blankets. Community service began at 6:00 in the morning.

After a few minutes, Sakura dozed off, falling into a troubled dream about smoke.


	7. Chapter 7: Conflict of Interest

**Two chapters in the same month! I'm on a roll! I hope you all are enjoying reading the story and thank you all for your reviews!  


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"You missed a spot."

Gaara bumped into the trashcan that was standing full next to Sakura. It swayed over and hit the ground next to her with a hollow _thud_, sending leftover food and crumpled paper everywhere. Sakura squealed just as loudly and jumped up from where she was trying to scrape a stubborn piece of gum off the linoleum. Gaara snickered and stepped over an empty soda bottle but his next step landed on a banana peel. In a second he was on the ground, looking at Sakura's angry face above him. She repressed a laugh with a heavy cough, trying to keep a straight expression.

"You have to clean that up, that was uncalled for!" she hissed.

Sakura glanced quickly at the rest of the room, which happened to be the lobby of the children's ward in Konoha Hospital. Several small faces peered back at her from next to their parents, whose faces were quite serious. A tiny old woman sitting in a far corner with a pleasant smile on her face seemed to be the only exception to the aura of the room. Sakura cleared her throat and looked back at Gaara. He stood up slowly and brushed a couple of scraps of paper off his pants.

"Gaara, I don't want to have to tell you aga—

"Alright, alright, _boss lady_!"

The redhead squatted down and began picking trash up off the ground at the pace of a turtle. Sakura played around with the idea of pushing him over when he wasn't looking but decided that it was too mean and leaned down to help him.

"No, go clean up something else," he said as soon as she had her hands full with garbage.

"Fine."

Sakura let all the garbage fall from her hands into a pile and moved away. It was getting more and more difficult for her to deal with this punk kid. She sighed and walked around the check-in counter. The janitor that normally cleaned that floor had left a list of things for Gaara and Sakura to complete every day. So far they hadn't finished anything. She concluded that cleaning the children's bathroom would be the next best thing to do. Gaara cussed loudly behind her as he almost slipped on the banana peel again. A woman with two children left the room. Sakura shook her head. The boy had no manners whatsoever. She exchanged a cautious glance with the nurse next to her at the desk before trudging away to find a mop and bucket.

* * *

It was almost 5:30 by the time the two had cleaned up the children's ward lobby and bathrooms. They had even managed to start on the geriatric ward. Sakura was busy placing and replacing things in the janitor's closet when she was knocked over by a brute force. The light's went out. There was a lot of stomping around and shuffling as she and whoever it was tangoed awkwardly in the tiny closet, trying not to get too close to each other.

"Gaara, what the hell are you doing?!" Sakura said loudly.

Gaara shushed her sharply. Sakura began to speak again but he put his palm over her mouth and shook his head. The lighting in the lobby was coming through the slats in the door. Sakura could see Gaara's side profile. He said nothing. Sakura could hear lot of far away voices becoming closer and closer. It sounded like a commotion, maybe an argument, and then it was right in the lobby. A man was yelling about somebody named Gary? Garen?

"It's my dad," Gaara finally said.

Sakura realized the name the man was shouting was Gaara's name.

"Where is that little bastard! He better get his ass home, I know he's in here!"

Several female voices, nurses most likely, sounded like they were trying to calm him down. Sakura watched Gaara's face become more and more grim. She brushed his hand from her mouth and crossed her arms.

"GAARA! GET OUT HERE!"

Sakura could tell that he had been drinking by the way he slurred his words. People were talking loudly. Someone threatened to call security. They both waited until the yelling was taken farther away. A few more minutes and everything was relatively quiet again. Sakura could tell by the soft murmuring in the lobby that several people were talking about what had just happened.

"Gaara—

Gaara gave Sakura a look that told her she shouldn't talk. She looked down at his feet. Beat-up Converse with ratty laces. She heard a rustling of material, then there was a click and a flash of light. She looked up as Gaara was about to light a cigarette, the dim glow of the flame dancing across his face.

"No, don't do it!" she exclaimed.

She dashed forward and grabbed his wrist and tried to blow the flame out.

"G-Get off me! What—no—STOP!"

He let the flame go out before it burned either of them but Sakura made a grab for the cigarette he was holding in his mouth. He jerked his head away and pushed her shoulders back. The lighter fell from his hand and clattered to the ground.

"Give that to me, you can't smoke in here and you know that!"

"Would you stop?! You're so annoying!"

"NO! Give it here!"

She began to beat her hands on his chest and then an idea struck. She immediately stopped attacking and swooped to the ground, plucking Gaara's lighter off the floor. Gaara growled something incoherent and tried to wrestle the tiny flamethrower from her hands.

"You're going to burn the whole place down! Give that back! AH NO!"

Sakura clicked the flame on and waved it around his face. He backed into one of the large wall shelves surrounding them and knocked several cans of paint onto the floor.

"Aw, damnit! Look what you made me do!"

Sakura simply held the flame closer.

"Put that out!" Gaara snapped.

"Do you promise not to smoke inside buildings anymore?!" Sakura said, trying her best to sound menacing.

"Yeah, whatever, just put that o—

"PROMISE?!"

"YES! Alright! Fine!"

The flame went out, leaving them both in near-darkness. Gaara frowned at the ground. The paint was pink, just like the lobby walls. Sakura could see, even in the faint lighting that Gaara's shoes and small parts of the bottom of his pants were now as pink as her hair. She burst out laughing and pointed at his Converse.

"Shut up it isn't funny!"

Sakura continued to laugh while Gaara stepped around tentatively in the mess and his new pink shoes. He cursed as his left foot slid forward in the paint.

"Are those—" Sakura tried to say between laughs, "Are those the only shoes you have?"

"Yeah." Gaara replied and slid forward again.

This time, he couldn't stop. Sakura grabbed his shoulders out of reflex as he tried to regain his balance and ended up inches from her face. Gaara placed his hand on the shelf behind Sakura's head. For a couple moments they faced each other in the darkness. Sakura's thoughts became faster, making her feel a bit dazed. She let go of his shoulders, which Gaara hadn't been expecting. He fell forward a little more and almost, just barely, his cheek grazed hers. Sakura felt her heart speed up. Then he pushed away and was back to standing a normal distance from Sakura.

"We should probably clean this up," he said.

Sakura nodded, still feeling slightly lost. Gaara stepped farther back into the closet and found a few ragged towels. He handed two of them to Sakura. She took them silently and they both began to clean up the floor without talking. Even when she accidentally bumped her wrist into his, he neither insulted her nor flinched away.

After a while longer, the paint was cleaned up as much as it could be. Gaara had been able to take some of it off his shoes. They exited the closet to find the lobby as bustling and oblivious as ever. Sakura began to think of the incident with Gaara's father. She remembered how Gaara's face looked when it was happening. Lifeless and stoic. The thought of giving him a hug tugged at her heart but she knew he'd respond defensively.

_We haven't even known each other for that long_, she thought.

She amused herself with all the possible outcomes of hugging him. What if he yelled at her? What if he made a scene? What if…he hugged her back? Sakura giggled quietly behind Gaara, who was walking farther ahead of her like usual. She caught herself. Why was she acting like that? She set her jaw and glared at the back of Gaara's head. He was the most rude, most annoying boy she had ever met. Even worse than that kid Naruto! Gaara apparently felt the holes being burned into his backside and turned around to match her glare with an even more ferocious one. Sakura narrowed her eyes at him until he turned around again. But still, she felt that pull on her heart.

_Maybe another time._

They left the hospital doors and walked their opposite ways home.

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**What do you think so far? How about Gaara's pink shoes? Please keep the reviews coming! I read them all! :)**


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